Boise State canceled on volleyball team with trans player. That school asked for money
Following the decision by Boise State not to play its volleyball match against San Jose State last month, the California university requested that Boise State cover the cost of lost game-day revenue, according to correspondence acquired by the Idaho Statesman through a public records request.
Boise State canceled its scheduled Sept. 28 contest at San Jose State without citing a specific reason. However, a Spartans player has said in a lawsuit that they have a transgender athlete on their team, which has resulted in other cancellations and Mountain West forfeits by Utah State and Wyoming. Southern Utah University also called off its match with SJSU.
San Jose State has an overall record of 9-3 and is 4-3 in conference play. Boise State is 11-6, 3-3.
In an email obtained by the Statesman, San Jose State athletic director Jeff Konya asked Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey directly on Sept. 30 for Boise State to pay for lost game-day money.
“We estimate we missed out on approximately $1,250 in game day revenue by not playing the (game) on Saturday when you add all of the various revenue sources (i.e., concessions, parking among others),” Konya wrote in the email. “I would ask to be made whole at the very least.”
Lauren Griswold, Boise State chief communications and marketing officer, told the Statesman that Konya and Dickey did not communicate any further on that topic. Griswold also said that as of Thursday, Boise State hasn’t paid San Jose State any money.
San Jose State officials did not immediately respond to a Statesman request for comment.
Although Boise State did not publicly trumpet that the cancellation was over a transgender athlete, multiple high-ranking Idaho figures supported the move, including Republican Gov. Brad Little and Joshua Whitworth, executive director of the Idaho State Board of Education.
Both individuals referenced Little’s Defending Women’s Sports Act that bans transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
San Jose State’s Brooke Slusser recently joined a lawsuit against the NCAA, according to a motion filed in District Court in Atlanta, where the suit was first filed. It aims to prevent transgender women from competing in NCAA-sanctioned women’s sports.
The Spartan named in the lawsuit by Slusser has not publicly come out as transgender.
Following Boise State’s statement that it would not play at San Jose State, Mountain West Deputy Commissioner Bret Gilliland emailed school officials on Sept. 27 outlining the conference’s Transgender Participation Policy, the Statesman found through a public records request.
That policy, adopted by the conference in August 2022, states that a transgender athlete may compete if they meet the NCAA’s applicable eligibility threshold. Eligibility requirements include a testosterone level test, with transgender athletes needing to be within “allowable levels for the sport,” according to the NCAA.
In the email to Dickey, San Jose State’s Konya stated that the university’s volleyball team “was and is compliant with all NCAA and MWC rules and regulations.”
“Your institution’s arbitrary decision not to play an otherwise eligible NCAA team has resulted in harm to SJSU financially and our institution brand,” Konya wrote.
The Broncos and Spartans also are scheduled to play Nov. 21 in Boise. The player in the middle of the controversy played against Boise State three times across the 2022 and 2023 seasons, before Slusser’s legal filing.
This story was originally published October 17, 2024 at 2:10 PM.
